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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

If You Don't Feel Like Running

If you don't feel like running today, that's okay.

Every runner needs an unscheduled break now and then, something to put a kink in your otherwise predictable routine. You'll avoid burnout and return to your schedule after a day or (dare I say it) two feeling revived and invigorated.

However, if you don't feel like running for several consecutive days, then chances are there's something wrong with you.

Chances are you already know that.

By "wrong with you" I'm not saying that you're physically injured, which would technically mean that you simply can't run. Not running due to injury is certainly different from not running due to not feeling like running. If you can't run, you probably feel like running—would actually love to run; but physical restrictions prevent the fulfillment of this desire.

Rather, if you do not feel like running, the inspiration to get off your ass and participate in something you've enjoyed doing on a regular basis is just gone, absent.

Someone mentions running, and you almost cringe in shame, knowing you've neglected your training schedule for so many days. You look at your shoes in the closet and glance away quickly to avoid thinking about the last time you laced them onto your feet.

You could run if you wanted to. But, you don't, you don't want to.

Being somewhat obsessive about running, as most runners are, you will experience a great deal of inner turmoil and emotional confusion when faced with the realization that you don't feel like running. I mean, how you could you just not want to run all of a sudden?

Clearly, something apart from running is preventing you from going through the motions of the run, clearly. And, it would not be wholly inaccurate to identify that something as heavy shit of a psychological or emotional nature.

The schematics of this emotionally charged psycho shit are not all that clear to you, though. And, that's understandable. Otherwise, the shit would be neither heavy nor all that psychologically complex. Otherwise, we wouldn't be trying to figure out why you don't feel like running.

So, primarily, you're having to struggle with this abstract shit, this heavy, phsycho-emotional-shit thing that's getting in the way of your urge to run. This takes a lot of energy, facing such complex psychological shit. You might even lose weight.

And, successfully navigating through such enormous loads of psycho-shit on top of trying to understand why you don't feel like running can be very overwhelming indeed, emotionally and physically speaking.

The irony is that running would actually be helpful in counteracting the effects of the emotionally draining thing, because of the endorphins, see. Chances are you're aware of this fact. But, the heaviness of the psycho-emo-shit thing is just too much to handle directly for a few days. And, there's just no getting past that, the heaviness.

So, take a breath and accept that life has suddenly turned all serious on you. And, by "accept", I mean deal with it. Do it quickly, because you've probably figured out that anything preventing you from wanting to run for several days is very serious.Yes, very serious indeed. Get help if the nature of the psycho-shit thing demands such measures. Talk to anyone who will listen.

I'll type it again for emphasis (since I've used up my share of italics in this post already): Get help!

As for your running: Make yourself get out there, even if it's just a short run. A week may have gone by already. But, you can still run. You need to exercise through this shit. Otherwise, it's just that much easier for the complexity of the psychologically troublesome thing to wear you down and get the better of you.

Psycho-emo shit can get even more shitty before you realize it.

You'll pull through this, endure the shit. If it isn't your middle name, "endurance" is at least one of your nicknames. And, this psycho-emotional-shit thing won't keep you down, not with your ability to endure. Running is a passion. And a passion like running trumps that shit. Every time. Eventually. Somehow.

9 comments:

Following a training plan has this effect on me. I feel all ground down and unmotivated being a slave to the plan. I would rather go cruise trails in Umstead than get that required 20 miler in to meet my plan's goal. Does lack of motivation for training qualify for the psyco-emotional-shit club? If so, consider me a member. Ok, now I've convinced myself to skip the long run and go run Company Mill in Umstead tomorrow. Is that a failure, or a success? This PES stuff is complicated...